Along with the development of an optical communication technology, a fiber to the home (FTTH) technology has become a hot issue in the communication field. Currently, with the development of a passive optical network (PON) technology, the FTTH technology has entered a rapid development period.
The network architecture of a fiber to x (FTTx) network, i.e. an optical access network (OAN) is shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. The components of the network architecture are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in the FIGS. 1 and 2, the OAN includes a customer premises network (CPN), an access network (AN) and a service node function (SNF). The main network elements of the OAN include an optical line terminal (OLT), an optical distribution network (ODN), an optical network unit/terminal (ONU/ONT), and an adaptation function (AF). In the AN, the AF is an optional equipment, which is mainly adapted to accomplish the conversion between an ONU/ONT interface and a user network interface (UNI). The AF may alternatively be set in the ONU/ONT, and as a result, a reference point a does not exist. The AF may also be set behind the OLT to accomplish the conversion between an OLT interface and a service node interface (SNI). The AF may be considered as a function entity of the CPN or a function entity of the AN. T is a reference point of the UNI interface, and V is a reference point of the SNI interface. The OLT provides a network interface for the ODN and is connected to at least one ODN. The ODN provides a transmission mean for the OLT and the ONU/ONT. The ONU/ONT provides a user side interface for the OAN and is connected to the ODN.
A customer premises equipment (CPE) is connected to the AF through the UNI interface (e.g., through a DSL line). The AF converts a message from an UNI interface format into an interface (e.g., an Ethernet link) format capable of being connected to the ONU/ONT. The ONU/ONT further converts the message into a format capable of being transmitted on the ODN (such as a package of the Ethernet over passive optical network (EPON) and a package of a generic framing of the gigabit over passive optical network (GPON)). The OLT converts the message into an SNI interface (e.g., the Ethernet link) format, and accesses the SNF.
The status of the optical network has been described above, and the status of the wireless communication network is described below.
Currently, BWA equipments in the wireless communication network provide convenient broadband access services for subscribers, which specifically include BWA equipments based on private protocols and BWA equipments based on standard protocols. The BWA equipments defined by an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 Standard is a subset of BWA equipments based on a series of BWA technology standards. That is, the BWA equipments include worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) equipments.
IEEE 802.16 is a BWA standard, which includes two versions: “802.16-2004”, i.e. a broadband fixed wireless access version of the 802.16 standard; and “802.16e”, i.e. a broadband mobile wireless access version of the 802.16 standard. There are only two network elements defined in the version 802.16-2004: a base station (BS) and a subscriber station (SS), which are interconnected with each other through the broadband fixed wireless access technology. There are also two network elements defined in the version 802.16e: the BS and a mobile station (MS), which are interconnected with each other through the broadband mobile wireless access technology.
In order to support wireless communication functions such as fixed, nomadic, portable, simple IP mobile, or full mobile access, a WiMAX network is proposed in this field based on the 802.16 standard, in which an access service network (ASN) and a connection service network (CSN) are defined.
Take 802.16e standard as an example, a schematic view of a reference architecture of the WiMAX network is shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, R1 is a reference point between an MS and the ASN; R3 is a reference point between the ASN and the CSN; and T is the reference point between a terminal equipment (TE) and the MS in the CPN network. The MS may simply be a mobile terminal, alternatively, the MS may be attached with the TE.
Along with the rapid development of the OAN technology, it has become possible to provide high bandwidth access services for the subscribers. The wireless access, such as WiMAX, has provided conditions for achieving a mobility of the broadband access and an expansion of broadband coverage.
However, in the prior art, the OAN and the wireless access network are independent from each other and are not intercommunicated. That is, no solution has been proposed about distributing WiMAX wireless base stations by using the existing OAN network resources, and about realizing interconnection between the WiMAX network and the OAN network. Thus, the advantages of the two networks have not been further utilized effectively.
There is another wired communication network, i.e. a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, widely used in the communication system. The architecture of the DSL network is evolving from a point-to-point protocol (PPP) over asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) to an IP quality of service (QoS) enabled architecture based on an Ethernet aggregation and connectivity.
A universal structure of the enabled architecture is shown in FIG. 4. In the DSL network shown in FIG. 4, T is a reference point between the TE and a DSL Modem in the CPN network; U is a reference point between the DSL Modem and an access point digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM); V is an Ethernet aggregation reference point between the DSLAM and a broadband remote access server (BRAS) in the AN; A10 is a reference point between the AN and a service provider (SP), which may connect an application service provider (ASP) to a network service provider (NSP) possessing the AN, or connect the NSP to a visitor AN under roaming. The CPN network and the AN are interconnected through the DSL access technology.
Currently, the DSL network has been widely laid by operators in the field, but the DSL network has not yet been interconnected with the existing OAN and BWA network. That is, the BWA network, the DSL network and the OAN are not interconnected with one another in the prior art to make full use of the advantages of various networks to provide better communication services.
SUMMARY
The invention provides a method and a system for interconnecting a broadband wireless access (BWA) network with an optical access (OAN) broadband network to solve the problem of interconnecting the WiMAX network with the OAN broadband network, to make full use of the advantages of the two networks to provide better services.
The present invention provides a method for interconnecting a BWA network with a wired network, applicable for realizing the interconnection between the BWA network and an OAN broadband network, and the method includes: interconnecting the BWA network with the OAN broadband network at a selected reference point in the OAN broadband network, in which the reference point is any one selected from a group consisting of a reference point T, a reference point a, a reference point optical distribution network (ODN), and a reference point V.
The present invention further provides a system for interconnecting a BWA network with the wired network, the system includes the BWA network and an OAN broadband network, and further includes: a base station equipment set in the BWA network, the base station equipment is adapted to realize access services of wireless subscribers, realize interconnection with the OAN broadband network through at least one pair of wired cables at a reference point T, a reference point a, a reference point V or a reference point ODN in the OAN, and perform information interaction between the BWA network and the OAN broadband network.
The present invention further provides a method for interconnecting a BWA network with a wired network, applicable for realizing the interconnection between the BWA network, an OAN broadband network and a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, and the method includes: interconnecting the BWA network, the OAN broadband network and the DSL network at selected reference points in the OAN broadband network and the DSL network, in which the reference points include any one selected from a group consisting of a reference point T, a reference point a, a reference point ODN and a reference point V in the OAN broadband network, and a reference point V in the DSL network.
The present invention further provides a system for interconnecting a BWA network with a wired network, the system includes: the BWA network, an OAN broadband network, and a DSL network interconnecting with each other at selected reference points in the OAN broadband network and the DSL network, in which the reference points include any one selected from a group consisting of a reference point T, a reference point a, a reference point ODN, and a reference point V in the OAN broadband network, and a reference point V in the DSL network.
The present invention further provides a method for interconnecting a BWA network with a wired network, applicable for realizing the interconnection between the BWA network, an OAN broadband network and a DSL network with each other, and the method includes: interconnecting any two of the BWA network, the OAN broadband network and the DSL network at the selected reference point V in the OAN broadband network and the DSL network through an interworking unit (IWU).
The present invention further provides a system for interconnecting a BWA network with a wired network, the system includes the BWA network, an OAN broadband network, a DSL network, and network interworking units respectively interconnected with each of the networks.
The network interworking unit is adapted to interconnect any two of the BWA network, the OAN broadband network, and the DSL network at a selected reference point A10 in the OAN broadband network and the DSL network, and particularly adapted to interconnect networks requiring interconnection through at least one pair of wired cables, perform protocol conversion on services of different protocols transferred from the networks requiring interconnection, and exchange services of different protocols transferred from the networks requiring interconnection between any two wired service processing units.
As seen from the technical solutions of the present invention, the present invention has the following advantages compared with the prior art.
1. The present invention provides a solution for interconnecting the 802.16-2004-based WiMAX network with the OAN broadband network and interconnecting the 802.16e-based WiMAX network with the OAN broadband network, thus realizing the interconnection between the two networks. Moreover, the present invention further provides a solution for interconnecting the 802.16-2004-based WiMAX network, the DSL network, and the OAN broadband network, and interconnecting the 802.16e-based WiMAX network, the DSL network, and the OAN broadband network, thus realizing the interconnection among the WiMAX network, the DSL network, and the OAN broadband network.
2. Various interconnection solutions provided in the present invention utilize the WiMAX wireless network to serve as a wireless extension for the wired access of the OAN and the DSL network, and further support fixed wireless, nomadic, portable, and mobile access applications, thereby providing an evolution approach for the OAN and the DSL broadband network operators to develop the WiMAX network.